Adjustable foundation garment



April 22, 1952 G. A. BARCLEY 2,593,832

ADJUSTABLE FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed Aug. 18, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 A ril 22, 1952 G. A. BARCLEY 2,593,832

ADJUSTABLE FOUNDATION GARMENT Filed Aug. 18, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 22, 1952 G. A. BARCLEY ADJUSTABLE FOUNDATION GARMENT 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 18, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 5 1 EVEMEKMHQ 62k g5 J E G. A. BARCLEY ADJUSTABLE FOUNDATION GARMENT April 22, 1952 Filed Aug. 18, 1949 S: /EP ILkFp Patented Apr. 22, 195.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADJUSTABLE FOUNDATION GARMENT Gaylord A. Barcley, South Orange, N. J. I

Application August 18 1949, Serial No. 110,914

1 Claim.

way connected together, so that any one of said front, side or back sections of the garment can be adjusted or altered individually relative to the other sections to permit the garment to be made smaller or larger throughout its length to the top edge to the bottom edge or at any one point in the length of the garment, for example, at the bustline, waistline or the hipline, without aifecting the relationship of the other sections.

A further object is to provide such a garment having the front, back and side sections formed and secured together in a novel and improved vmanner such that either of the side sections can be raised or lowered relatively to the front and back sections, or either the front section or the back section can be raised or lowered relative to the other and to the side sections, and the side sections shall be maintained accurately in proper position girthwise of the garment and with any boning therein disposed accurately vertically on the figure of the wearer of the garment.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the types of human figures are widely varied, the figures dififering in the height and girth of the bust or Waist or hips, and some figures being longer than others from the hipline to the arm, and according to the practice heretofore, the fitting of foundation garments to such figures has been diifcult and time convsuming, requiring substantial disassembling of the garment, ripping of seams, and cutting and trimming of the garment sections; and such adjustment frequently have resulted in poorly fitting garments. In contrast to this, my invention makes it possible to adjust the sections. girth- .wise throughout or at any desired point in the .length of the garment and to vertically adjust the front or back sections of the garment, for example, to fit either a high bust or a low bust, or a high hipline or a low hipline; and the side sections can be raised or lowered to avoid the necessity of building up or cutting down the underarm section; and all of this can be accomplished by simply separating the front and back sections from the side sections, rearranging the sections to produce the desired fit, and then securing the sections together again. Moreover, each adjustment can be made without substantially affecting the relationship of the sections elsewhere.

Furthermore, the invention permit the adjustment of the garment without the use of darts, tucks, or cutting away, or without the insertion of extra pieces of material or gores; and the adjustments can be made without disturbing the placement of. the boning, gores, or other features of the garment which have been skillfully used and located for particular purposes and by the designer.

Otherobjects, advantages and results of the invention will be brought out by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the outer 'side'of an adjustable combination garment embodying the invention, opened to its fullest extent and showing certain portions of the front and rear sections disconnected from the side or underarm sections;

Figure 2' is a similar view, showing the garment adjusted to lower the back section;

Figure 3 is a schematic plan view of the garment in developed or closed condition, showing a modification and illustrating the manri'r of making the girthwise adjustments on the garment; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the garment, illustrating it as applied to a human figure, after having been adjusted girthwise at the bustline;

Figure 5 is a schematic plan view ofthe garment, showing it before and after the adjustment illustrated in Figure 4; i

Figure 6 is a view similar'to Figure 4, showing the garment after an adjustment at thehipline; Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 5, showing the adjustment illustrated in Figure '7;

Figure 8 is a perspective view like Figure 4, showing the garment after an adjustment throughout the length thereof;

Figure 9 is a schematic view like Figure 7,

showing the adjustment illustrated in Figure 8;

3 proximately on the plane of the line Ii-H of Figure 10.

Specifically describing the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the garment comprises a front section A, a rear section B and two side or underarm sections C which are shaped for the right and left-hand sides of the garment, respectively. The front section may be of any desired construction, but is shown as' comprising a plurality of pieces of fabric or other suitable material and has a brassiere including the usual bust pockets I at the upper portion or bustline of the garment, and an elastic gore 2 in the lower or girdle portion at the hipline of the garment. In this particular garment, the front section includes two portions 3 and. 4 each having one edge secured to one side section and the. other edge. formed with separable fastener elements 5, such as hooks and eyes, to cooperate with complemental fastener elements 6 on the other portion.

Theback section B similarly may be formed in any suitable way but is shown as comprising a plurality vof pieces of fabric stitched together, each longitudinal edge portion of the back section being connected to one of the side sections.

The front and back sections are formed in the usual way for connectionv thereto of shoulder straps I, and the upper edges of said sections are curved, as indicated at 8, to fit under the arm of the wearer of the garment. The upper and lower edges of the side sections C preferably are shaped as indicated at 9 and 10, respectively, in

continuation of the upper and lower edges of the front and back sections.

The, side sections may be of any suitable shape and formedof any suitable material, but as .shownare comprised of two pieces of fabric stitched together, the sections being shaped for the-right and left sides of the garment. respectively. As shown, the side sections are narrow relatively to the front and back sections but are of a width to permit substantial overlapping of -the longitudinal edges of the side sections by the adjacent edges of the front and back sections so that the margins of each two overlapping portions are spaced apart a substantial distance gir-thwise of the; garment.

In making the garment, the front, back and side sections, at their longitudinal and top and bottom edges, are initially shaped according to he nature and purpose of the garment, and the longitudinal edges of the back section are easily sepa'i'ably secured to the side sections in over- -lapping relation thereto by any suitable fastening means, such as basting I l, sewing, fusing. or

inning. Similarly, the longitudinal edges of the front section are secured to the respective side sections by suitable removable fastening means. To fit the garment to a figure, the garment .with the sections separably connected as described is applied to the figure with the separable "fastener elements and 6 connected together.

sired to make the garment larger or smaller at the bustline, the upper portions of the longitudinal edges of the front or back or both sections would be temporarily disconnected from the side sections, as indicated at the upper left-hand portion of Figure 1, while if the girthwise dimensions of the garment at the hipline were to be adjusted, the lower portions of the longitudinal edges of the front or back or both sections would be temporarily disconnected from the side sections, as shown at the lower left-hand side of, Figure 1. By disconnecting the longitudinal edge of either the front or back section from the corresponding side section throughout their lengths, as indicated at X in Figure 1, the girthwise dimension of the garment may be changed throughout the length of the garment. It willthus be seen that either the front or the back of the garment can be made larger without affecting the back or the front of the garment, respectiv ly, and without the necessity of cutting away or adding material.

With the longitudinal edges of the sections disconnected from each other throughout their lengths, as shown at X, the whole back section can be lowered relative to the front and side sections, as shown in Figure 2. Of course, it is also possible to raise the back section; and similarly, the front section could be raised or lowered, for example, to accommodate a high or a low bust. Also, it is possible to raise or lower the side sections relative to the front and back sections. It will thus be evident that the front, back or side sections may be adjusted without disrupting the other portions of the garment, thereby ensuring a perfect fit of the garment throughout and eliminating the possibility of the seams, boning, gores and darts beingpulled out of proper position.

More particularly describing the various possible adjustments, Figures 4 and 5 illustrate a garment that has been adjusted at the bustline without adjustment at either the waistline" or hipline. The light broken line D in Figure 5 indicates the girthwise dimension of the waist, the heavy broken line E indicates the original girthwise dimension of the garment at the bust, while the solid line F represents the adjusted bustline, and the solid line G represents the hipline.

Figures 6 and 7 show the garment adjusted only at the hipline, the light dotted line Dindicating the normal girthwise dimension of the waistline, the heavy broken line H indicating the original hipline, and the solid line I showing the adjusted hipline. r

Figures 8 and 9 illustrate an adjustment'of the garment girthwise throughout the length of the garment, the light broken line D, representing the waistline, the heavy broken line E indicating the original bustline, the heavy broken line H showing the original hipline, and the solid lines F and I illustrating the adjusted bustline and hipline.

In Figures 1 2 and 4; to 9, inclusive, the side sections are shown as located on the liner side of the garment, but the invention also contemplates the, location of the side, sections at the outer side of the garment, as shown in Figure 3, where the removable fastening means for temporarily fastening the edges of the side sections to the edges of the front and back sections are designated l3,

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 1 and 2, it will be observed that the longitudinal edge portions of the side sections between the margins and the fastening means constitute in effect, loose or free tabs l4 that may remain on the finished garment for subsequent adjustments; and similarly, in the form shown inFigure 3, the longitudinal edge portions of the front and rear sections are in the nature of loose l tabs extending from the top edge to the bottom edge of the garment so that the garment may be adjusted at any time to accommodate changes in the figure of the wearer.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that while I have shown the invention as embodied in a combination foundation garment, the invention may be included in other types of garments, and the front, back and side sections may be made of various shapes, of different materials, and include any suitable structural features such as special elastic sections, gores and darts, all within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

A foundation garment to encircle the body with the top edge of the garment below the shoulders and that is alterable to conform to the figure of the wearer, said garment comprising a front section, a back section and two relatively narrow opposite underarm sections, all of said sections extending from the top edge to the bottom edge of the garment and the top and bottom edges of the underarm sections being continuations of the top and bottom edges of the front and, back sections, one longitudinal edge portion of each underarm section overlapping one longitudinal edge portion of the front section, and the other longitudinal edge portion of each underarm section overlapping one longitudinal edge portion of said back section, and a line of stitches detachably connecting together the edge portions that overlap each other and running along the longitudinal margin of one and inwardly of the corresponding margin of the other of said overlapping edge portions from the top edge to the bottom edge of the garment, said line of stitches being removable at any point between the top edge and the bottom edge of the garment, the margins of the edge portions that overlap each other being shaped and spaced apart girthwise of the garment and one thereof extending beyond said line of stitches and constituting a tab running from the top edge to the bottom edge of the garment to provide for adjustment of said overlapping edge portions relatively to each other longitudinally of the garment and also circumferentially of the garment at any point along said line of stitches by merely removing some of the stitches at the desired zone of adjustment, moving the thus disconnected edge portionsof the sections the required distance and direction relatively to each other and refastening the overlapping edge portions together in adjusted relation. I

GAYLORD A. BARCLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Kispert Jan. 25, 1944 

